Train-pipe coupling.



PATENTED AUG. 11, L903.

J. 0. MARTIN, JR. TRAIN PIPE COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 15, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented August 11, 1903.

PATENT Curios,

JESSE c. MARTIN, JR, OF' sAN'FnANoIsco, CALIFORNIAQ TRAIN-PIPE cou PLIVNG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 735,991, dated August 11, 1903. Applicationfiled December 15, 1902. Serial No. 135,230. (No modelJ To all whom, it weary concern} Be it known that I, J new 0. MARTIN, J r., a citizen ofthe United States, residing at San Francisco, inthe county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Train-Pipe Oouplin gs, of which the following'is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of substitute between car-couplings for the rubber-hose means more commonly employed for coupling the fluid-conducting pipes between cars "in a train; and it relates particularly to an improvement in the class of couplings referred to employed where requirement for uncoupling is infrequent, as between a locomotive and its tender.

The object of my invention is to provide, for the stated situation, a tubular metal coup ling containing ball-and-socket joints to ren der it adequately flexible and which may be set to center the balls of the joints under the various normal conditions (such as the relative heights of the locomotive and tender) to which the setting may have to. be adapted, thereby to avoid'injurious strain upon the joints by affording to all of them a uniform extent of deflection under the sinuous movements to which the coupling is subjected in itsposition.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

\ Figure 1 shows my improved coupling by'a View in side elevation adjusted in its operative position between a locomotive and its tender, of which only the rear and front ends, respectively, are represented. Fig. 2 is a section taken at the line 2 2 on Fig. 1 viewed in the direction of the arrow and enlarged, and Fig. 3 a vertical central section taken lengthwise through the middle joint in the coupling of Fig. 1 and enlarged. v

A and A are the metal tubes of the coupling, slightly curved at adjacent ends, as shown at 'v and '0, where they are flexibly connected by a ball-and-socket joint B. y This joint may involve any suitable construction, but the preferred construction isthat illustrated in Fig. 3, comprising the socket a, hat:

ing a nipple a, into which the tube A is screwed, the ball I), having a nipple b,into which the tube A is screwed, the ball being confined in the socket, within a gasket 0 therein, by a cap (I, screwed upon the socket,

provided with a'lock-nut d. Attheir outer ends the tubes A and A are respectively screwed into thenipplesofthe ball portions 1) of ball-and-socket joints B and B which, as shown, are in all particulars like the joint B, except that the socket nipple on each (shown at Ct lll Fig. 2) extends at a rightangle to the socket to engage with thethreaded end of atrain-pipe section connected by the coupling, one of which sections is shown at C.

- From the end of each socket of the end joints B and B there projects a rigid stem f, containing a pivot-bolt hole 6. D is ahead, shown of general T shape, having a hole 6 through its'stem g to coincide with the hole in the socket-stem f for the purpose of admitting through the coincident holes a pivotbolt h, carrying a'nut h, for adjustably fastening together the socket and head.

To apply my improved coupling in position between a locomotive (indicated at Gin Fig. 1) and a tender, (indicated at H in the same figure,) the head D at one end is fastened under the locomotive, asto the deck-plate, k, by tap-bolts t, and the head D at the opposite end is fastened under the tender, as to the front sill'l, by lag-bolts m. With the coupling thus fastened in place and connecting the train-pipe sections it requires adj ustment according to the. difference in height from the track between the fastening-points on the locomotive and tender of therespec tive ends of the coupling, which is liable to vary in different locomotives and tenders. Thus if the fastening-point on the locomotive be higher than represented in-Figfil relative to that on the tender the position of the tube A will tend more toward the vertical than 'shown and that of the tube A will accordwhich they are capable the consequent strain would tend to impair and even break the joint. I avoid this by adjusting the coupling in its original setting to center the balls of all the 5 joints in their sockets. Thus Whatever may be the relative angles assumed by the tubes "A and A in the initial fastening of the coupling ends the ballot the middle joint may first be centered in its socket, then that in the joint at one endof the couplingmaybe turned on its pivot h to center it in its socket and rigidly fastened in its set position by tightening the respective nut h, and then the socket in the joint at the opposite end of the coupling may be turned on its pivot to center it and similarly fastened in its set position. Vith the several joints thus set to center the balls in their sockets the extent of play of the parts is rendered the same in all the joints and the primary object of my improvement is accomplished.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, an in- 2 5 terchangeable train-pipe coupling consisting of a plurality of tube-sections flexibly joined together, a socket flexibly joined to the outer end of each tube-section and provided with an integral apertured stem, a securing-head at each socket provided with an integral apertured stem, a bolt passed through the apertures of said stems to aifor'd a swiveled connection between the socket and head, and a tightening-nut on said bolt.

As a new article of manufacture an interchangeable train-pipe coupling consisting of a plurality of ball-and-socket joined tubesections each tube-section being curved toward its inner end to bring the ball of said joint normally centrally of its seat, a socket flexibly joined to the outer end of each tubesection and provided with an integral aper tured stem,a securing-head at each end socket provided with an integral apertured stem, a bolt passed horizontally through the apertures of said stems to aitord a swiveled connection between the socket and head, and a tightening-nut on said bolt.

JESSE C. MARTIN, J R.

In presence of- CLARENCE I. BERRY, D. B. RICHARDS. 

